Bobby Korecky recalled by Blue Jays, Kevin Pillar optioned

After a couple of shortened outings took their toll on the bullpen over the last two games, the Toronto Blue Jays needed to add another arm to relief corps. Prior to Wednesday’s game with the Minnesota Twins, the Jays made that move, recalling right-hander Bobby Korecky from Buffalo and optioning outfield Kevin Pillar to the Bisons in a corresponding move.

This will be the second time Korecky has been recalled this season, making one perfect appearance for the Blue Jays on May 30th. He was placed on optional waivers after the game and returned to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, where he’s authored a very solid seasons, posting a 3-1 record with a 6 saves, a 0.26 ERA, a 0.757 WHIP and a 9.2 K/9 ratio. For those of you doing the math at home, that’s exactly one earned run over the course of 34.1 innings pitched.

Unfortunately, recalling Korecky has it’s price and that means the Blue Jays needed to make a corresponding roster move. As indicated above, Kevin Pillar was sent back down to Triple-A Buffalo, who became the choice when it became known that the Blue Jays wouldn’t be seeing any lefty starters in the coming week, according to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.

Pillar has been serviceable during his recent recall, slashing .243/.237/.324, but had been losing playing time to Anthony Gose in the short term and was due to be optioned in the near future with Colby Rasmus due to return shortly. He still has a lot of work to do in terms of plate discipline though, as he had yet to draw a single walk during his recent stay in Toronto.

After tonight’s game, Chisholm also opines that the Blue Jays are likely to make another more, possibly flipped Korecky back to Buffalo in exchange for Darin Mastroianni (tweet) or Munenori Kawasaki (tweet 2).